Customer service excellence 10 years in the making!
One of the goals for any business should be to assemble a team with a mix of skills and capabilities such that the organisation is not dependent on any one person. This is great in theory, but it is actually quite difficult to achieve in practice, especially when it comes to matters of leadership.
James Pearson, group sales manager UK and Ireland, and operations manager for the UK is a case in point. Wearing multiple hats, James has oversight across all the key areas of Soho66 something that is essential for the smooth running and continuing success of the business.
James has recently passed the milestone of being with the company for 10 years. “I’m really a salesman, although I started out in technical support, after a year I discovered my talent was in sales. I actually broke some records and eventually worked my way up to Head of Sales. Operations Management was added to my remit last year,” says James Pearson.
Concentrating oversight in critical areas
This was an important step for the company. This effectively concentrated oversight for sales, account management and support with James, allowing him to have an end-to-end view. James Pearson says: “Essentially, I could see how to improve in areas that were critical to differentiating us from our competitors.”
He continues: “Our focus is firmly fixed on the speed and quality of the customer experience, whether that is for the sales or the support journey. Support is something that we’ve really raised the bar on. 10 years ago, a 4 hour fix was typical for a support request. Today, we’ve brought that down to less than 60 minutes.”
The science of quality management is pivotal to improving support. “We follow a process of learning from what we’re doing well so that we can be better at the things we don’t do so well. And that has paid dividends when we have combined it with our ‘How did we do?’ post support survey. Our positive reviews have doubled,” says James Pearson.
An eye on support and a passion for sales!
Communicating with customers frequently through account management and support calls provides the close regular contact that enables the gathering of information about any problems customers experience with the system.
James Pearson says: “This helps us to improve our products and services. We also learn of any issues that they have within their businesses providing us with sales opportunities, should they be problems we can solve.”
When James isn’t keeping an eye on support operations, his passion for sales is evident. He’s totally hands on when it comes to enterprise sales and higher level account and contract management. He regularly demos the VoIP platform to prospective customers as well as helping customers with custom reporting.
When it comes to the teams he manages, he promotes a family-first culture which is sympathetic to employees and their needs. “This provides a level of engagement that brings out the best in the team members. It breeds a culture where individuals support each other in the common goal of delivering the very best service and support. And that is something our customers are experiencing first-hand today and will continue to in the future,” says James Pearson.
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